Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-19

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In many countries, primary and secondary schools close for two months or more in the summer holidays.

What is the value of long school holidays?

What are the arguments in favour of shorter school holidays?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 6.0)

Nowadays, there are different arguments on closure of schools for 2 month summer holidays, as some people believe that extended school holidays are valueable whereas others think shorter school holidays are beneficial. Personally, I support the later view of school closures for short period, but I have discussed both the viewpoints in my essay.

Firstly, People value the longer school holidays by arguing that longer period of schools closure allow children to discover their hobbies or intrests. For instance, as minors spend most of their time in learning academic caricculum, people think that this busy lifestyle of children does not provide them with spare time to discover their hobbies or intrests. So if children get longer period of holidyas from their academic institutions, they can enroll themseleves in their desired sports activity or technical course such as-Artificial intelligence. These enrollments can eventually help them in determining their higher study plans and career goals for the future.

ON the other hand, Shorter holidays are favoured by a lot of people. They argue that If pupils get longer day-offs from their academics, so their flow of continuiously school-learning breaks, which eventually make it harder for them to cope-up with their academic workload when schools re-open after 2 months break. For this reason, it is quite supported that minors should only get shorter breaks of eg- one month, so that they can adopt schooling schedules more quickly for focused learning.

Another, favour presented for shorter holidyas is that it allows more learning time for minors. Unlike, the extended breaks from schools where pupil are mainly into playing and do not perform any productive activities, so people think that summer break period must be reduced, in order to leave more time for in-depth acdemic learning. Because they believe that if there are more days kept for school-learning, so it enables tutors to cover syallbus in in-depth manner, which can help students to understand core principles of each phenomena, rather than superficial learning in quick paced manner.

In my opinion, shorter school breaks must be there, so that more in-depth learning can be made possible along with adaptive routines for children to cover their syllabuses.

To conclude, although longer day-offs in summer may help students to identify their field of intrests, I believe that there should be shorter holidays for the purpose of better habit-forming and in-depth knowledge grasping of children.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address both questions and maintain a clear preference for shorter holidays, while acknowledging that longer breaks can help children explore interests and career options. The examples of sports activities and an AI course make that benefit concrete. Your case for shorter holidays is also relevant: you explain that breaks can disrupt learning routines and that a shorter summer could leave more time for deeper study. However, these arguments are not equally developed. The claim that pupils mainly play during extended breaks is broad and would benefit from qualification or an example, and the learning-time argument partly repeats the point about maintaining academic continuity. To strengthen the response, explain more precisely how shorter breaks improve learning without overlooking the value of rest and family time.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay has a coherent overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph on the value of long holidays, two paragraphs supporting shorter breaks, and a conclusion that restates your position. The contrast between the views is easy to follow, and phrases such as “Firstly” and “On the other hand” help signal progression. At times, however, linking is mechanical or awkward: “Another, favour presented” does not form a clear transition, and several sentences rely on repeated “so” and “because” constructions. The final two paragraphs also overlap in their focus on academic learning. Use more natural transitions, make each paragraph’s distinct purpose explicit, and ensure that linking words connect ideas accurately rather than simply marking a sequence.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You attempt a range of topic-related vocabulary, including “career goals,” “academic workload,” “focused learning,” and “core principles,” which helps communicate the main ideas. There are also attempts at less common expressions, but inaccurate spelling and word choice are noticeable and sometimes make the reader pause. Examples include “valueable,” “intrests,” “caricculum,” “holidyas,” and “syallbus”; “flow of continuously school-learning” is also an unnatural phrase. Some expressions, such as “day-offs” and “knowledge grasping,” are not idiomatic in this context. Aim for accurate, natural collocations and check spelling carefully. A smaller set of well-controlled phrases such as “maintain learning momentum” and “consolidate subject knowledge” would make the argument more precise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use both simple and complex sentence forms, including clauses beginning with “although,” “whereas,” and “if,” and the overall meaning is generally clear. However, some sentence structures are faulty, particularly when several clauses are joined together. For example, “Unlike, the extended breaks from schools where pupil are mainly into playing … so people think” is not a complete, well-formed comparison, while “if there are more days kept for school-learning, so it enables tutors” combines structures awkwardly. There are also errors in agreement and sentence boundaries, as in “longer period … allow” and the capitalisation after full stops. Work on building one clear main clause before adding subordinate information, and check subject–verb agreement and punctuation in longer sentences.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.